Part 2 - Saturday in the City

We woke up (thankful to have slept in a real bed for that night!) and headed back on foot into the city. It was, of course, still raining, harder than it had been the previous day.

First stop: Grand Central Terminal.

Many people, books, and websites suggest this as an important stop. I don't think first thing Saturday morning is the most exciting time to see it, however. It was a nice building, and it's thought-provoking just to imagine thousands of people coming and going through that terminal every day. In the lower level food court, Doug and I picked up some breakfast. We had a chocolate croissant and a delicious toasted "Jewish" bagel with herbed cream cheese and fresh tomato, served to us by a dark-skinned French-speaking smiling man. Doug found several opportunities to use his French language skills in New York City, and in those times I just smile and nod. I could tell that this particular man was asking Doug if I speak French as well. I followed along well enough to shake my head at that! He told Doug that I should learn. Maybe he's right.

After breakfast we headed towards Rockefeller Center. When we saw the American Girl doll store across the street, I just had to go in (and drag Doug along with me). That was one of several moments when I missed my girls! They would go gaga in that place. Even I went a little gaga, and took lots of pictures.

Rockefeller Center was familiar and unimpressive. It's more fun when it's winter time and it's decorated festively and couples are ice skating.

We pushed on towards Central Park. Even though we knew it was an expensive touristy thing to do, we wanted to take a carriage ride. Actually, that was second to rowing a boat in one of the little lakes in the park, but the rain encouraged option #2, since this carriage would give us a little bit of shelter.

Next time I'm in NYC, I would like to explore more of this park. It is huge!

We had also considered going to the Manhattan Temple, which would have been a good rainy day activity...except that it was closed for maintenance. Another item still on our "To Do in NYC" list: museums. We didn't make it to any of those.

But by 11:00 Saturday morning, something (was it our rain-soaked clothing, or the horse-drawn carriages around us?) urged us on towards our next destination: Pennsylvania. We took a cab back to our hotel (this driver was the craziest! Maybe he feels the need for speed when Saturday morning offers a break from the usual gridlock of weekday traffic.) and checked out--out of our hotel room, and out of the city. We went from this shiny metal crowded hodgepodge big city, to quiet slow-paced rolling-hills natural beauty Amish territory: Lancaster County.